TAKEN
by GothicLycan
Summary: While being teleported to Eli's lab, Gordon Freeman encounters problems and is teleported to the future instead where he vanishes mysteriously. With the help of the Master Chief and Cortana, Alyx and Barney must find the missing Freeman.
1. Chapter 1

TAKEN

Foreword

I don't own the characters, events, and places in these games. They're all owned by their respective companies(developers).

Games Involved: Halo, Half life.

Chapter 1 THE FINAL FLASH

Gordon Freeman stood at platform waiting for the final blast. The rings spun around him causing the wind the glow blue. Barney stood watch as the final step was at hand.

"Bon Voyage! And best of luck to your future endeavors." Doctor Kleiner said as a parting shot. All of a sudden, the headcrab got out of the vent knocking off electrical connections, causing the device to go haywire.

"What's going on?"

"Your pet! It's your pet!" Barney shouted.

"Hedy, stop it! The scientist ordered.

The headcrab ignored everybody else except Freeman and leapt at his face. Gordon tried to pry it off and as soon as the creature yielded, he was teleported to a desert. He watched the creature leapt into a flock of crows and snatched one before it had the chance to fly away. Then a bright light blinded him, a sign that he was teleported again. "He's back!" Barney spotted Gordon back in the platform. Gordon recognized the lab.

"Get me out!" Gordon shouted, feeling uneasy now.

"I'm going in!"

"Don't go there! You'll be ripped apart!" Kleiner shouted.

"Do something, Kleiner!" Gordon shouted. "There must be an override somewhere!" Barney added as he ran around looking for one.

A bright flash struck again and this time, he saw Alyx, Eli, Judith, and a vortigaunt watching him. Alyx wore a worried frown. "What the hell is going on, Judith?" Eli asked in a hurry.

"There must be some kind of interference. He's getting pulled again!" Judith shouted and of all the three flashes, this was the brightest and longest of them. Gordon felt all his strength drained but felt light. He felt time stray away as his surroundings changed into a dark tunnel. A bright light at the end made him know he was not yet in complete darkness. The brightness grew gradually as he neared it until a final flash struck him then he remembered no more.

Gordon woke up all dizzy and weak, he felt hungry and thirsty as well. It took quite some time before his eyesight was able to adjust to his condition. As stale smell tinted the air as he took his time to get his bearings. He tried to sit up and studied his surroundings.

Dead bodies littered the floor, wounded and scorched. "Something hot went through them." He thought and tried to stand up. It was difficult but he managed it. A low guttural moan came from nowhere. His reflexes instantly kicked in and grabbed the nearest weapon he can find. A laser rifle lay nearby under an elite's body. He studied it, figuring out how to control it. He gave up after a few moments and started to look for a different weapon and didn't fail. An assault rifle laid a few steps away. He went for it, it was comfortable to hold.

He began to examine the dead bodies closely. He didn't recognize them but was debating whether they were enemies or foes in his mind. But still, in an unknown environment in an unknown time like this, he decided to take caution.

"There, that should unlock that blast door over there." Cortana returned. "Get in, Chief. I'm detecting multiple contacts coming for us. I don't relish the idea of getting baked by laser beams with you."

"At least you don't feel anything." Master Chief replied and it made him think over it. He didn't usually retaliate. "Wait, Chief! I'm detecting movement from one of the rooms we visited earlier. But it's not covenant. It's human!"

"Can you establish contact?"

"Let me try." Cortana tried to establish contact. "Hmm. That's weird?"

"What is it?" the Chief got curious.

"I can't establish contact. Something is blocking the signal. I guess we have to meet him or her in person."

"Which floor?"

"Second. The one where you encountered that elite."

The Chief retraced his steps back to the hallway. "Chief, an elite!" Cortana screamed inside the circuitry of the MJOLNIR. The Chief felt his adrenaline spike as a blue orb darted through the air from an unseen entity at end of the hallway. It gave, however, that familiar grunt. The Chief aimed his needler and fired. The pink needles arced and darted toward the creature. Almost a full clip ejected but only a few found their target.

The Chief switched his weapon to a sniper rifle, turned the night vision mode on and fired. The creature gave a cry of pain and it faded gradually along with its life.

Tapping sounds echoed in the large room, behind pillars. And more came from above where walkways embedded on the walls seemed empty were not. Grunts scuttled noisily above-so much for stealth in an ambush tactic. The heavy gasping gave them away too.

"This way!" one of the grunts whispered hoarsely. More followed and the indiscriminate gasping and tapping made it easy for the Chief to estimate their location. And a squad just positioned themselves at the blast door Cortana had unlocked. Of course, this wasn't the first ambush he got plugged into in his entire career and probably won't be the last.

A series of pink strips tore through the air waves and came from every direction. The Chief ducked behind a parked Wraith Tank and open fired at a grunt whom was about to throw a plasma grenade. The grenade dropped beside the creature instead detonating, sending his companions, including him, flying in the air.

A grunt ran past behind a pillar. He peeped to make sure he was hidden. The Chief stayed in his position trapped between two parked Wraith tanks. The grunt fished out a plasma grenade and threw it. It stuck in the Chief's back and exploded.

"Chief, we need to retreat!"

"But where?" the Chief tried to stand after that blow. He ducked back between the two wraiths and waited for his shield to recharge. While waiting, Cortana had been searching the rooms and hallways. "If only we could contact that human I've detected moments ago."

"Are you even sure you detected one?"

"I'm sure of it, Chief. Definitely human. But I can't find him anywhere." Cortana searched again while the Chief made plans of his own.

"Wait!" Cortana interrupted, "I have detected Echo 4-19. They are being chased around this mothership. I'll give them a signal to come pick us up but I won't count on it.

"I don't think we can count on this person's aid for now, either." The Chief said but was patient, wondering if the grunts will ever ran out off needles and battery for their laser pistols. The Chief made up his mind and entered one of the wraith tanks.

Somehow, a grunt was smart enough to organize his buddies. "Grenades!" he shouted and everyone knew instantly what to do. Everyone grabbed a plasma grenade and threw it in unison.

"Hurry, Chief!"Cortana cried. The tank shook from a recoil. A buish-white orb of plasma ejected from its cannon. It traveled in an arc and landed on a blast door. It exploded into molten metal but also, the plasma grenades exploded and the Chief has barely enough strength left to go on. The scent of burnt circuitry staled the cockpit's air. The screen went dead, leaving the Chief no choice but to get out and face the needles from squads of grunts.

"You've got to hold, on Chief." Cortana was worried. The Chief landed on all fours, ready to collapse.

"Hold on!" Cortana screamed. The Chief dropped and as soon as he was down, one of the Wraith Tanks rose high up in the air and hovered towards a group of grunts that ran for their lives. It was enough to scare and confuse most. Zuwee, a proud grunt clad in silver armor who just popped out from a door as soon as the Chief was down, carrying a fuel rod canon, aimed and fired at the Wraith Tank. The tank exploded but it wasn't down yet.

"What?" he gave out in what sounded as a scared squeal. He fired again. The green plasma landed but still the tank did not yield. But Zuwee was proud, thinking of himself like a rambo kind of grunt. He had luck-sometimes. But this was an exception as the Wraith Tank was thrown with force toward his direction. This made Zuwee squeal and leaped toward the door from where he popped out. The tank landed right at the door frame, stuck. The grunt got back to his feet and gave the tank a push to see if it would move. But what was he thinking, with his size?

Alyx rushed down a line of ladders. She was just in time to watch the tank explode and the Chief fall. With the gravity gun, she picked up the Wraith tank and scared the hell out of those grunts except for that Silver armored one which she considered exceptional among the others but thoughts were more on this green-armored soldier lying on the floor. She bent down to take a closer look.

Barney followed her down. "Let me check this out." Barney volunteered holding Alyx back as soon as they were on ground level. Barney approached the green-armored soldier. "Careful." Alyx warned. Barney knelt down and faced the semi-transparent visor of the Chief. "Hey buddy, are you okay?" he queried still wondering if the Chief was even breathing. "There's definitely no way to tell." He thought.

Alyx came up to get a closer look at the fallen warrior. She held the gravity gun up close.

"Chief! Chief!" Cortana had been busy getting the Chief conscious for the past few moments. John groaned a bit and woke up. His eyes set quickly at the couple positioned in front of him. For a moment he was alarmed but calmed down. He raised his head, "I need your assistance."

"Sure. Will be happy if you can tell us where we are first." Barney figured getting things cleared in the first place would be best for all. John knew Barney's intentions so he took the time to gather his thoughts. After all, he was too weak to stand for now but he will be up in a moment anyway. "Ok. You two are inside a Covenant Ship called Staff of the Reclaimer." John paused and studied their attires. "You don't seem like Marines?

"That's because we aren't. I'm Barney, a security guard from Black Mesa-well I used to be. How about you? What's your story?"

"Black Mesa?" Cortana paused at it for a moment. The Chief had heard of that particular place from somewhere and now all the details just flowed in memory. "How's that possible, that whole Black Mesa issue was almost half a millennium ago?

"What do you mean?" Alyx was confused but not Barney, "Look around you, Alyx." He said and Alyx did. Through the large plasma on the wall she saw the millions of stars light-years away and the closer galaxies that seemed so close to each other but still their distances were too great to measure even for one man's lifetime. Then the couple surveyed the mess around the room. The wrecked Wraith Tank was still puffing smoke and sparks stills clicked on several spots.

"I know you warrant for an explanation," the Chief interrupted, "But there are some things that must be done first. "I shall inform you ahead of time that you just landed in the middle of a war."

"Don't worry," Barney assured, "We just came from one."

"Chief, maybe we could get their assistance." Cortana suggested blankly because her thoughts were more focused on Alyx's weapon. The Chief was puzzled at Cortana's suggestion but before he could comment, Cortana spoke. "Ask them about that weapon of theirs." The Chief noticed the weapon and squelched whatever it was he was to say.

"That weapon of yours, what is it?" Alyx stared at the Chief's curiosity. She looked at him then at her weapon. "It's a zero-point energy manipulator or gravity gun for short."

"I suppose you're the one who lifted that Wraith Tank with that?" the Chief queried.

"Right! Say, you didn't happen to see another human around. He's just like Barney's height here, dark-brown hair, green eyes, and wearing an orange armor?"

"No. But we did detect the presence of another human on this ship unless that was you, Barney." the Chief answered plainly.

"Now what do we do? Just when you need a messiah he just goes poof!" Barney was edgy right now. The Master Chief got up fully recovered. Now the couple wanted an explanation but the Chief waved them off.

"Like what I said, we'll talk later. And since your with us, you might as well come with us." The Chief needed assistance for now. Even with modifications that allowed him to surpass normal human abilities, he still can't be at two places at once. Barney and Alyx stared at each other. "Do we have any choice?" Barney queried.

"I guess not." Alyx replied. "But we need to find Gordon." She insisted. "If you traced him here and you are certain, he should be somewhere around this ship by now.

"Cortana, can you still detect that presence?"

"One moment…nothing, the ship is clear."

Ok. So this is what I can write for Chapter 1 so far and my apologies for the very short chapter- kinda got excited to post something.

Well I hope you enjoy this one. Please Read and REVIEW.


	2. Chapter 2

FOREWORD: I don't own Halo and Half-Life. But now the new Character Zuwee is mine(just the idea of him being a rambo, and his name). Both games are owned by their respective companies. In case of any infringement, it is unintentional.

CHAPTER 2: TROUBLEMAKER

"So where do we start?" Alyx inquired without taking much notice of the Chief. At that instant, an explosion shifted their gaze toward the doorway at the walkway. The Wraith Tank fell and crashed to the floor below. The Chief, Alyx, and Barney readied their weapons. The Chief picked up a needler, Alyx held on to her gravity gun, and Barney furnished out an Overwatch Standard Issue Rifle.

From the door, the grunt rushed out with his fuel rod cannon resting on his back, ready to fire. "I'll guess will have to start from him." Barney replied. Alyx aimed and pulled the grunt's weapon. Zuwee gave out a squeal but was determined. He picked up a grenade but before he could throw it, he was at the grasp of the gravity gun. The little troublemaker was in front of the trio in seconds. "Let me go!" he squealed and kept twitching as if trying to wade off whatever was holding him. "Quiet!" Barney poked the alien with his rifle which made the alien stop.

"So you're that little squat." Alyx commented and studied the alien. The Chief grabbed the alien from the gravity gun's grasp and stared at him, "You will help us find our way around." The Chief said with a deep, calm voice as if expecting the alien to comply.

"Never, you devil!" The grunt replied in a voice opposite that of the Chief. Zuwee soon realized the grave situation he got literally pulled in, if his superiors find out he'd been helping the enemy, he'd be turned over to the Jackals or who knows what experiment his superiors would put him in. But if he doesn't help them, he could end up in human laboratories for studies as well. He had to choose the lesser pain.

"It fits." Barney said as he finished working on the grunt. A well fitting pair of handcuffs strapped Zuwee. The alien was bickering though, "Demons! Evil Cyborg! And curse that Orange-armored demon!" Alyx grabbed Zuwee by the chest in a flash, "Did you see Gordon? Where is he? Talk!" the Alien was puzzled at the moment and remembered to be hard on his enemies and kept his mouth shut after that. The Chief had been thinking for a while. Echo 4-19 should be somewhere by now, we could use a ride."

"Negative. We need to get our own ride. I lost lost Echo 4-19's signal." Cortana reported. In his thoughts, the Chief replied, "We'll stick to our original plan then while these two look for their friend."

"I have a better idea." Cortana said, "Try that panel over there." The Chief approached the panel and inserted the data chip in. Cortana went immediately to work.

Alyx and Barney pressured the grunt, "This one's silent." Barney commented. "Talk or else." Alyx added, her threat seems to work. The grunt looked away then whispered, "He vanished." Such a response didn't alleviate Alyx's temper, though.

"I'm not playing games." she snapped. The grunt tried to get free, he shook and twisted his wrists but it didn't work. It was a useless attempt. Barney laughed at the alien's actions, "I suggest you stop playing hero and tell us where he is." At the same moment, Cortana successfully patched herself onto the ship's software. "I'm in," a holographic image of her appeared on a hologram panel not far from where they stood.

Alyx and Barney approached the panel. "I've scanned the entire ship. I can tell you now that there are a lot on board. A few elites, hundreds of grunts and Jackals, and around fifty Covenant Engineers scattered over different places but only three humans."

Alyx and Barney were saddened at this revelation. Gordon wasn't on board. "I guess we're back to nowhere. But we have our only witness." The grunt sat in the corner without a care of the four guests of the ship. Barney watched the alien curl its legs and sleep.

"I'll show that..."

"Let him be." the Chief interrupted Alyx. "Give him time."

"And if he doesn't crack?"

The Chief had other ideas. This grunt must be special to the rest of its kind. He must hold some importance to them. If they hold him hostage, it should give them some peace since no one would dare to disturb them but not for the jackals and elites. Anyway, this grunt had cost them enough trouble just as an elite could give.

"He'll be our collateral. He knows something and I'm sure his superiors would want to hear him talk." The Chief explained but the couple could not reject nor agree. Cortana couldn't either, but he trusted the Chief's judgment, "But don't you think he will just be ignored? " Cortana still managed to throw. The Chief did not respond and approached the grunt, towering over the smaller one. The grunt opened its eyes in time to see the Master Chief before him. He trembled and yelled for him to go away. He even called him names that Chief simply ignored as if he didn't hear a thing.

"So how do you intend to make that thing talk?" Barney wondered over the Chief's intentions.

The Chief ignored Barney and went on with Zuwee, "You will help us." he began.

"Never!" the other snapped. The Chief picked the grunt by the methane tank. The grunt squealed. He wasn't comfortable being held that way and them being around him.

"Talk or I'll kick you myself!" Barney shouted but the Chief glared at him and he stopped. Even though Barney could not see the Chief's eyes, he discerned it from the Chief's body language.

The Chief faced Zuwee, "Like I've said, you will help us." his voice was calm. There was no need for harassment here. Not yet, at least. But the Chief wondered how to convince a grunt like this. After moments of thinking, he had no answer and set the little thing down back on the floor, "I suggest you keep thinking of your future while you still can." the Chief parted, leaving the grunt pondering over that. Zuwee's mind swirled in riddles and questions. Did that statement came as is or was there a hidden agenda behind it? Or does it still have to undergo wild interpretations? The Chief's words silenced him and kept him busy for a while until he eventually dozed off.

An hour had gone without a sight or sound of the enemy except in monitors, Cortana had been keeping a close watch on them, "They don't seem to know we're here." Cortana observed watching the dots in the screen. "The enemy is scattered around the ship and none had ventured close to the room where we are and nobody's strolling the hallway leading to us either. They seem to be keeping their distance from us."

"They know we're here, but we're not that interesting to them. I wonder why?" glanced at his companions hoping for an opinion from them. None had an answer and the coupled parted.

Alyx sat on top of a Wraith tank, she was worried, wondering where Gordon had gone. Barney joined her, "Don't worry. If he's not here..." then he paused, strips of doubt slipped through his thoughts, "We'll find him." he ended, hoping it would satisfy Alyx or himself for now. Barney watched the Chief on the panel. Cortana's blue image moved indicating that she was explaining something to the Chief but Barney could not hear it. He looked at the sleeping prisoner, Zuwee, opposite them. In Barney's thoughts he figured that the alien might be comfortable with them, "But why?" he thought. "This creature's too relaxed." he observed and Alyx remembered the alien. A determined face masked her. She got down and approached the sleeping grunt.

"You, wake up!" she demanded and the alien gave out a yelp, shocked. Zuwee panned his view left and right and recognized the familiar company he's with then he calmed down, he stopped at stared at Alyx. "Tell me what you saw." Alyx said in calm manner. The sudden shift in attitude puzzled Zuwee. "Come on, tell me. What did you see?" she urged. Zuwee looked down on the floor, thinking. Then he remembered the Chief's advice earlier. "My future." he replied but it wasn't really meant for Alyx's inquiry. Alyx wanted to hit the alien but Barney held her back. "He's thinking of something else." Barney said.

The Chief joined in, he has been watching the trio interact with each other for some time. "We have to leave this ship." he reported, Alyx faced him with anger, "What about Gordon?" Barney protested as well, "We need to search this ship thoroughly." he added. "What if-"

"We are leaving!" the Chief stamped the order to their faces. "Cortana figured that stealing this ship takes too much time and it's risky and we have a missing group of Marines in space."

"So you mean to say you don't care about..."

"Five lives count more than one." the Chief injected though he didn't mean it but Alyx and Barney could not believe it. "We will leave unless you want to stay but I assure you there's no one else here worth finding. Where ever he is, it's outside. Cortana did a thorough scan of this ship." There was silence in the air, the grunt watched the argument but could care less but he can't do this for long, he's the only lead they've got. "What about him?" Barney pointed at the grunt. The Chief stared at him as well, "You'll take him. I believe you still have an issue to settle with that thing." Alyx still does have an issue with the grunt. "Chief, there's an extra dropship one deck above us." Cortana chimmed in.

"Let's move." The Chief ordered. Alyx grabbed Zuwee where the Chief grabbed him earlier, he struggled and squeaked again. "Shut up!" Alyx shouted and Zuwee yielded. "I'll take that." Barney referred to the gravity gun which Alyx handed to him. The Chief grabbed a needler and took the data chip and inserted it to his helmet.

"The quickest way is through that door," Cortana pointed out through the NAV point. "Follow me." The Chief ordered. Soon they were running through a strange-looking hallway embellished with glyphs. The hallway was empty of corpses indicating that no battle occurred here but this did not stop the Chief from lowering his defenses, he still held the needler at chest level. Alyx carried the grunt while Barney tailed behind. The hallway led up to a blast door and as soon as they reached it, the Chief signaled them to be ready. Motion trackers indicated two dozen troops on the other side. The Chief leaned on one side of the door and Barney on the other. Alyx put the grunt on the floor and got her weapon back but kept a foot on the floor with the cuff's chain between.

The doors parted and a surprised squad of jackals sprang to action. In the blink of an eye, a wild exchange of gunfire rattled the place. The Chief's weapon was useless then he grabbed a grenade and tossed it at the gathered group. Some ran while others stayed. The explosion took out three. Barney kept shooting and took out two. Alyx aimed and pulled one, sending the jackal's head crashing at the doors' upper beam. The creature's neck snapped. After that, the jackal was ejected forward with such force that it crashed at the remaining jackals. They tumbled carelessly. Some lost hold of their shields, others confused and others ran in fright. The Chief took the opportunity and nailed the remaining ones with needles.

"Let's go!" The Chief ordered and they scrambled toward the Covenant Dropship. "Chief, get us out. Quick!" the Chief saw why, more enemy units were homing in toward the docking bay. Alyx tossed the alien in as Barney got in before the door closed. The ship lifted, facing the exit point on the wall. "Hurry!" Alyx shouted as a spray of fire splashed at the ship's rear. The Chief pulled the ship to full throttle and they were out in space.


End file.
